Precious
by selizabetha01
Summary: Neither Damon or Elena have dates to the Lockwood ball, how will they end up spending the evening? One shot.


**No, I don't know what's going to happen in 3x14 and I haven't been reading any spoilers, but they're dressed up all nicely and so I have retreated to my magical bubble of Damon and Elena dancing together. If you wish to join me, carry on reading.**

**Their outfits are the same as in the 3x14 stills, I own nothing and you should all follow me on Twitter: asinsaviour_**

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><p>"So, who is Elena Gilbert's hot date for the Lockwood's ball tonight?" Damon asked, lounging on her plush, creamy coloured duvet with her favourite teddy bear lying across his chest.<p>

"Why does it matter?" The brunette responded, keeping her concentration on the vanity mirror in front of her, where she was applying her eye-liner.

"Just wondering which high school douche bag's head I'll have to rip off after he fails to keep his hormones in check." Damon shrugged, as if it was nothing.

"Well, don't worry, you won't be ripping anyone's head off because I don't have a date, I'm going solo." Elena told him. Damon blinked, not sure if he should respond, until she spoke again, "so, what about you?"

"What do you mean, what about me?" He asked, deciding to play dumb.

"You know what I mean Damon, which girl, ready to drop her knickers at the blink of an eye, have you chosen to be _your_ date?" Elena asked him, hoping he didn't detect the hint of jealousy in her voice that she had been trying so hard to conceal.

"Who says I'm even going?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Damon, you're a founding family member, you have to go and you know it. Ms. Lockwood expects you to be there." She sighed.

"Well then, for your information, I'm not taking anyone, _yet_. But, don't worry; I'm sure there will still be girls throwing themselves at me all night anyway." He winked just as Elena glanced at him in the mirror, making her insides flutter.

"Oh, well, we could go together?" Elena blurted out. The thought had popped into her head and she'd spoken it aloud before her brain had even had a chance to process it. "I um, I mean, as friends, you know? We could just dance and stuff, it'd be fun." She stuttered, trying to redeem herself and cover her embarrassment. She hadn't meant to sound so forward.

Her head fell forward and her hair surrounded her face, blocking her view of Damon in the mirror as she refused to make eye contact with him again.

"Elena," she heard her name spoken as though he was standing right next to her. She tilted her head up and, of course, there he was. Damon took her hand and pulled her out of the chair, into a standing position. "I would be honoured to go to the ball with you, Cinderella." He bent down and raised Elena's hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles softly.

Elena was unable to control the smile that spread across her lips and the rosy blush that graced her cheeks as she watched Damon leave the room. He paused for a moment and turned as he reached the doorway, "I'll pick you up at seven. Don't be late or I may have to find some other girl to 'drop her knickers' for me."

With that, he left the room to the sound of Elena's giggles.

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><p>Elena had just finished adding the final touches to her outfit; she pulled her hair to one side and slipped on the long, black gloves. Glancing at the clock on the bedside table, she saw the numbers flick to 19:00 and, right on cue, there was a knock at the front door.<p>

Alaric had left about thirty minutes ago, he had offered to escort Meredith Fell and left early to drive to her house and pick her up after checking that Elena already had a ride. Being alone in the house, Elena gathered up her dress so that she wouldn't fall, and made her way down the stairs to answer the door.

When she did, she almost didn't recognise the figure standing before her. Damon was stood there; his eyes as wide as hers probably were, scanning over her body. He was dressed in a formal, black, fitted tuxedo and white dress shirt with his hair combed yet still very natural looking. She didn't know why she felt so nervous, perhaps it was the way he was looking at her, they weren't on a proper date, and they were just friends. No reason to feel nervous, right?

"Hi," she breathed.

His eyes flickered up to hers and their gazes locked for a few moments, as if they were under a spell. Suddenly a shiver went up Elena's spine and she remembered that they were standing in a doorway. She moved aside to let Damon into the house. He took the silent invitation and stepped in, revealing a small bunch of deeply crimson coloured roses and handing them to her.

"I thought since tonight was all about formalities, I should bring my date flowers." He smirked as she took them and smiled, placing them down on the table, next to her small, black, clutch bag.

"Thanks," Elena replied, slipping on a pair of black heels, to match the ribbon on her sparkly, gold dress, and picking up the bag. "Okay, shall we go?"

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><p>Damon pulled into the busy driveway of the Lockwood mansion and sped around to the other side of the car to hold the door open for Elena. She got out and he offered his arm to her, which she took.<p>

"Ready?" He asked as they walked, seeing the nervous look on her face.

"Yeah, sorry. I always get nervous before these things, it's stupid really." She sighed.

"Hey," he said, leaning down to speak in her ear. "It's not stupid. You look beautiful, trust me."

Elena smiled and looked up at him with her big doe eyes, taking his breath away and not for the first time that evening. "Thank you," she muttered, trying not to reveal that the small compliment meant everything to her, coming from him. However, he noticed the pale pink tint on her cheeks that wasn't there before; he always noticed everything about her.

Taking pride in the fact that she always blushed so easily around him, they carried on walking until they made it to the entrance of the house where Carol Lockwood was standing, greeting her guests like the perfect hostess. "Damon, Elena, I'm so glad to see you both, I'm happy you could make it tonight." She said with an over-sized fake smile plastered on her face, showing off her pearly white teeth. "Most of the guests are in the ballroom and dining room right now but we'll be moving to the marquee in the garden later tonight when it starts to get dark. I'm not sure if anyone told you but the founding family members are going to dance at round eight pm to kick off the evening. Miss Forbes and the others are waiting upstairs – if you'd like to join them."

Damon and Elena nodded and left to find the others. Elena was anxious about seeing who Caroline had ended up coming with, she had been planning to come with Tyler but they hadn't been on speaking terms since the whole loyalty to Klaus ordeal. She pushed open a large, white, wooden door to a bedroom where she could hear polite chatter coming from. Almost immediately, she and Damon were separated as she got dragged aside by an overly excited blonde in a pale blue and silver dress with white gloves and he was left to search for Alaric.

"Elena!" Caroline exclaimed. "Oh my God, it is _so_ good to see you that dress is _stunning_, you _have_ to tell me where you got it from." Caroline shot out at one hundred miles per hour. Turning into a vampire had done nothing to help the girly side of her, the part that loved clothes and gossip, especially when it came to town events like this one.

"Hey, Caroline," Elena said, trying to get a word in sideways as her best friend carried on talking about who was wearing what and who had turned up with who. "…speaking of, who are you here with, you haven't even told me yet. I mean, are you and you know who still on the outs?"

"Who, me and Tyler?" Caroline gasped. "Yes! I still can't believe he bit me. Anyway, he's here with Slutty Sofie." She nodded towards the couple in the corner of the room. "So, who are you here with?"

"Ah, ah, Caroline, I asked you first, stop deflecting." Elena teased, now curious as to why her friend was avoiding the question.

"I, uh, look Elena, please don't hate me but-" She cut her sentence short as a man appeared among the small crowd; a man who _definitely_ wasn't a founding family member, not of Mystic Falls at least.

"Caroline, please don't tell me you're here with _him_." Elena looked from the angel faced monster to the bubbly vampire standing beside her.

"I'm so sorry, you have every right to be mad at me and I know we can't trust Klaus but I ran into him at the Grill the other day and Ms. Lockwood had asked him to come tonight and he didn't have a date and I have to go out there and dance and I was _not _going with one of the stand in dates, then he asked me to go with him and, Elena, you didn't see him after Tyler bit me, he was being so nice and-"

Elena held her hand up in the air to stop Caroline's outburst. "It's okay, you don't have to apologise to me, I mean, who am I to judge your taste in guys? I don't trust him and you're my friend, I just don't want to see you get hurt, Caroline. Promise me you'll be careful?"

Caroline nodded her head, her blonde curls rapidly bouncing up and down as she pulled Elena into a hug.

Ms. Lockwood burst through the door, breaking the girls apart and everyone stood, waiting for her instructions. A short while later, Elena and Damon were stood side by side at the top of the stairs as the last couple to descend into the ballroom. As their names were announced, Damon took her by the arm and led her towards the other couples.

This was the part Elena had been nervous about. After all, it was a small town and small towns folk, who knew everything about everyone, _loved _to gossip. Just as she had anticipated, there were people staring and whispering, about what she couldn't tell, but there was always that gut feeling that it was bound to be about Elena Gilbert 'switching brothers', as they all saw it.

She felt something squeeze her arm and looked up at Damon who shot her a comforting glance. "Relax, they're all talking about how lovely your dress is and how lucky you are to have me on your arm," he smirked, being his usual cocky self, but it worked and Elena had visibly relaxed by the time they reached their spot on the floor.

Damon pulled her into his body and took one of her small hands in his, wrapping the other arm around her waist so that his hand rested on the small of her back. Her other hand lightly rested on his shoulder.

"I'm not sure if I remember this dance," she whispered to him worriedly.

"You'll be fine, just follow my lead," he promised her and the music began.

Elena felt like she was floating across the floor, not paying attention to anything but the way Damon was gliding her through the steps, his eyes never once breaking contact with hers. If it had been anyone else, Elena would have felt suffocated, but with Damon she only felt an intense emotional pull towards him.

She began to wonder what it would be like to trace his jaw line with her fingertips and tangle her fingers in his black hair. Suddenly, the music stopped, the dancing came to a halt, Damon released her and she realised how out of breath she was. "I'm, uh, going to get a drink," she said, putting a stray strand of hair back into place before turning away from him. She definitely needed a moment to calm down.

Damon nodded and took a deep breath. She wasn't the only one who needed a drink.

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><p>The marquee outside had been placed near the water at the edge of the Lockwood's land. It was large and luxurious and was so white it practically outshone the moon. It glittered with simple fairy lights draped around the sides and there were smartly dressed waiters walking around, holding trays and offering guests flutes filled with champagne.<p>

Damon and Elena had ended up spending the majority of the night dancing with each other, aside from small intervals to chat with friends and other guests who came up to say hello. Surprisingly, Klaus hadn't caused any sort of damage and everyone had been on their best behaviour, something unusual for a Mystic Falls town event.

By this point in the evening, Damon and Elena had separated off from everyone else and were dancing together in the corner of the room. Damon's arms were wrapped around Elena's back whilst Elena's arms were looped around his neck. They hadn't spoken in a while as there was no need for it. They were content with just being in each other's presence.

"I'm glad I asked you to come with me tonight," Elena muttered into his shoulder.

"I'm glad I accepted," he replied, his voice low.

"Why are you always like this with me?" She whispered to him.

"Like what?" He asked, wrapping his arms tighter around her frame.

"You treat me like I'm the most precious thing on the Earth." She was hardly even whispering now, her voice almost refusing to come out from fear of scaring him away.

Damon dipped her down in time with the music and pulled her back up, swinging them both around in a circle. Laughter erupted from her as she clutched his shoulders for support. Then he pulled her back into him with such a force that her hands flew to his hair so that her arms didn't get crushed under the weight of her body.

Damon's forehead pressed against hers, the tips of their noses brushing together. "That's because to me, you are the most precious thing on the Earth." His voice was strong and confident, without a hint of doubt.

Elena's cheeks flushed as they had done so many times tonight already. Her eyes flickered down to his lips and noticed that his eyes had travelled the same path to her own. "I know," she said, "I can feel it every time you touch me, I see it in the way you look at me."

"If you already knew, then why did you ask?" He smirked at her, their breaths mingling in the confined space between their faces.

"Shut up," she smiled as they leaned into each other, their lips mutually brushing one another's. Damon took her bottom lip between his own as his hands came up to cradle her face. Elena's grip on his hair tightened as she kissed him back and tried to pull him even closer than he already was, an impossible task. They moulded together until Elena was forced to come up for air. Damon peppered her cheeks with kisses, not ready to let her go.

She began to giggle and felt Damon smile against her skin as she buried her face into his neck and breathed in his scent.

"C'mon I think it's time to leave," he breathed into her ear.

Tonight had been perfect and that was how he wanted it to end, perfectly.

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><p><strong>If you liked it, REVIEW and if you didn't, do the same and tell me why!<strong>


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